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Taking it on (Online Consultation)

Method(s) Used


Name of person who posted the project:

Edward Andersson


Location of project:

United Kingdom


Date when the project started:

2004


Date when the project ended/project ongoing:

2004


Background to project:

This online consultation was about the content of the UKs sustainable development strategy.

It was commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and was run by Dialogue by Design. The online process began in April 2004 and continued until the end of July 2004.


Purpose of project:

The aim of the online process was to broaden the range of people consulted on the sustainable development strategy and to lessen the burden on regular consultees by making the process easier and more transparent.

The online consultation also had the added benefit of lessening teh use of paper and thus leading to environmental savings.


Project activities:

The online consultation took two forms

A 'General Access' consultation process allowed members of the public and any interested organisations to respond online to the questions in the consultation document. This process was open for 12 weeks, at the end of which the results were collated and the responses made available for scrutiny on the website.

In parallel to this public process, a 'Virtual Panel', representing a cross section of organisations and individuals with an interest in sustainable development, was set up to provide its views in two stages.

During the first stage the panel was asked to respond to the questions in the document. Following the collation of the interim results, panel members were asked to respond to further questions based on their earlier responses.


Project results:

The general access consultation generated 8,149 responses from 444 participants over the course of the process. The first round of the virtual panel alone produced 2,904 responses from 151 participants.

These responses provided valuable material for the further development of Defra's policy making.


Contact details:

Dialogue By Design
Ambassador House
Brigstock Road
Thornton Heath
Surrey
CR7 7JG
Telephone: 020 8683 6602
Fax: 020 8683 6601
Email: facilitators@dialoguebydesign.com
Web: http://www.dialoguebydesign.co.uk

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